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Today it means

forte

played loudly in music, or a thing at which a person excels

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Where does the word "forte" come from? It comes from Italian forte, and was adopted directly into English (1700s).

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Where does the word "forte" come from? It comes from Italian forte, and was adopted directly into English (1700s).

Forte’s story begins in Italian: forte meant “strong, loud.” Literally strong, loud, adopted as a musical dynamic marking. It reached English by 1700s as forte. Adopted for loud musical passages, and separately for a personal strength. Today, forte means played loudly in music, or a thing at which a person excels.

  1. Stage 1 · Italian · 1600s forte "strong, loud", literally strong, loud, adopted as a musical dynamic marking.
  2. Stage 2 · English · 1700s forte "loud, or a person's strong point", adopted for loud musical passages, and separately for a personal strength.

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